Degree Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
1984
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Industrial Education and Technology
Abstract
Over the last few years, Quality Circles have received widespread attention from managers, administrators, and educators. The research findings have been mixed with respect to the affects that Quality Circles have on employee attitudes and work satisfaction;The problem of this study was to investigate the contribution of employee participation in Quality Circles to job satisfaction. Specifically, the study explored the relationship between selected variables which have been identified as measures of job satisfaction and participation in Quality Circles;The purpose of the study was to aid organizations in the successful implementation of Quality Circles;A thorough review of the literature was conducted. Topics included: (1) Quality Circles and (2) job satisfaction;The study was conducted at Iowa State University in cooperation with four Midwestern organizations and the Veteran's Administration Medical Center in Knoxville, Iowa. A survey instrument was administered to over 1,000 employees. Job satisfaction and Quality Circle membership data were collected from 510 employees. The instrument's reliability was examined, descriptive statistics were presented, multiple regression analysis and stepwise regression analysis were conducted, and canonical correlation analysis performed in this study;From the results of this study, it may be concluded that: (1) Quality Circle membership significantly contributes to overall job satisfaction when other independent variables such as income, age, etc. are accounted for in the model, (2) Quality Circle membership does not significantly contribute to job satisfaction when the other independent variables are not accounted for in the model, and (3) the specific variables including company identification, financial considerations, and career future combine to form a linear function of the dependent variable which maximally relate to the independent variables subject's age and subject's seniority which combine to form a linear function of the independent variable.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.31274/rtd-180813-5281
Publisher
Digital Repository @ Iowa State University, http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/
Copyright Owner
David L. Shores
Copyright Date
1984
Language
en
Proquest ID
AAI8423743
File Format
application/pdf
File Size
246 pages
Recommended Citation
Shores, David L., "An exploratory study into the relationship between Quality Circles and job satisfaction " (1984). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 7797.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/7797
